Apparatus for stacking corrugated sheet material are typically designed for receiving container blanks that have been cut from sheet material, such as corrugated sheet material, in a rotary die cutter and placing the blanks of corrugated material into stacks for either movement to another process or for shipment. Such rotary die cutters normally eject the cut blanks at a lineal exit speed of several hundred if not thousands of feet per minute. Such an outfeed speed presents a very significant problem in providing equipment that is capable of efficiently stacking such blanks without either damaging the blanks or slowing the operation of the rotary die cutter, as the blanks are often rather fragile and can be easily damaged. Thus, apparatus for stacking corrugated sheet material have been provided that are capable of operating at very high speeds without damaging the fragile container blanks.
However, traditional apparatus do not permit safe and easy access to all major parts of the machine in order to facilitate set-up, recovery from jams, and cleaning and maintenance. Often, such machines require an operator to climb up on the machine using, for example, ladders or built-in staircases and to reach down into the machine. Additionally, or alternatively, some traditional apparatus use a pit in order to position the machine to a proper height.
Thus, there exists a need in the art for apparatus and methods for stacking corrugated sheet material which overcome the deficiencies described above. Particularly, there is a need in the art for apparatus and methods for stacking corrugated sheet material that permit safe and easy access to many or all of the necessary parts for operation in order to facilitate set-up, recovery from jams, and cleaning and maintenance. More particularly, there is a need in the art for apparatus and methods for stacking corrugated sheet material that permit safe and easy access to many or all of the necessary parts for operation without the necessity of an operator climbing up and onto the apparatus or requiring a pit for properly positioning the apparatus.